MILAN N.M. - On Thursday, June 17, the Village of Milan Board of Trustees held a regular meeting. Trustee Roseanne Lopez was absent.
Mayor Felix Gonzales made an announcement notifying the public of a closed meeting that was held on June 14. According to the village mayor, no decisions were made at that time. The board went on to approve the minutes for a May 12 workshop, May 20 regular meeting, and May 26 special meeting. Next, the board approved the cash disbursement journal for May 2021, as well as the municipal court cash journal for May 2021.
Updates
Milan Fire Department Chief Keith Austin, who will soon be exiting that position, addressed the board with updates from the fire department, as well as personal comments from himself in the form of a letter presentation.
For the month of May, Milan Volunteer Fire Dept. had 63 total calls, and two fires – one of which occurred at Mt. Taylor Manufacturing and the other at McDonald’s. According to Austin, MFD has also been assisting County Emergency Manager Dustin Middleton with COVID-19 vaccine disbursement; Austin also provided the board with the most recent COVID statistics as of May 7. Austin reminded the board of the current burn ban placed on the entire Village of Milan, “There is no burning in the village of Milan at this time due to the dryness and the weather we haven’t been getting,” said Austin.
Chief Austin then read a letter, “What I’m gonna say here is not going to make a lot of you happy. Most of you don’t know but I’ve been on the Milan Fire Department for 36 years. I’ve been the Chief since 2004. And most of you are not aware of ordinance. Ordinance 2007 said I should be under a contract, which I have never been under a contract. I gave the board my associates degree when I got it in February of 2018. I had no compensation for that. I now have my bachelors and I’m less than 12 weeks away from my masters. I’ve done a lot of work for the village to try to save the village money over the years. I did a lot of work on the police cars, the radio systems, and everything like that. And I received nothing for that, but I want y’all to be aware of it, that’s all I’m doing… As the board you need to do your– stay out of the running of the day-to-day stuff and let your manager run your day-to-day operations. I mean ever since we haven’t– Marcela left it’s been, it’s been chaos on us employees on the field. I mean, the fire department don’t even exist for anything except when you need something major. And as far as safety goes, I have no authority to do anything because there’s nobody here to give it to me. So, in closing this, I hope the board comes together for the employees and the citizens. Thank you.”
Milan Police Department Chief Carl Ustupski also gave a report for the month of May and what has noticeably changed in the last few months. Ustupski reported an uptick in violent domestic calls, calls for service, auto accidents, and total incidents. For the month of May, MPD had a total of 662 incidents, and are already close to 800 incidents this month. MPD is finally fully staffed, and with perfect timing as Ustupski reports the department getting busier and facilitating more area and business checks.
“We’re busy, and the more officers we have, the more productive we could be because we’re getting slammed,” said Chief Ustupski. The chief also reported a drive by shooting that occurred in the village and spoke a bit on his experience in the DWI field. He described how he saved the village around $3800 by finding funding for breathalyzer kits due to his DWI connections. Finally, Ustupski talked about some of the new equipment slowly coming in, invited the board to come check it all out, and shared his interest in establishing a working relationship with Milan Elementary School again to help with things like drug education and active shooter training.
Village of Milan Public Works Director Joe Ray Mirabal then gave an update on community well operations. One community well’s pump went out, and according to Mirabal, it is not going to be cheap to fix. For now, the village is running off two wells and water levels are “okay,” said Mirabal. The board directed Mirabal to collect quotes from in and out of town for the project.
Action/discussion items
The Board of Trustees approved ordinance 270 relating to a three percent increase all across the board for commercial and residential water and sewer utilities.
They then heard a brief presentation from Chief Ustupski on his idea about “police pay incentives.” According to Ustupski, the idea is not about just giving officers more money. The idea involves a contract between the department and the officers to ensure they do what is being asked of them, then they get a pay incentive. If they do not fulfill their end of the bargain by completing their tasks, they no longer receive the financial incentive. Ustupski believes this incentive could work to attract officers to step into much needed roles and positions within the department.
Finally, the board recognized Recreation/Pool Clerk Wanda Merriman, who received a plaque for being a loyal employee to the Village of Milan for 20 years. “We appreciate you very much. We appreciate your loyalty and your hard work,” said Mayor Felix Gonzales. Village Clerk and Projects Coordinator Denise Baca was also recognized as Employee of the Month for June.
Board comments
During comments, each board member spoke the same general message, congratulating Merriman, thanking Austin, and acknowledging where the board has fallen short while determining to fix it. “There’s a lot that we gotta fix, but it’s getting fixed,” said Trustee Chris Archuleta.
Trustee Ellen Baca said a number of things: that she was saddened at the fact that the village has lost five employees recently, that the board has not been paying attention, that they have tended to foster favoritism and nepotism, that she was sorry for that, and that she was thankful for the remaining employees.
Mayor Pro Tempore Vivian Brumbelow also added, “For the employees that are still here, just hang in. We’re doing the best we can. I know some people don’t think so, but we are.”
Finally, Mayor Gonzales wished all fathers a Happy Father’s Day, acknowledged the recent influx of resignations, and wished them all luck. “The village will continue to operate and serve our citizens. There’s no doubt in my mind about that now. I’ve never been a negative person. I always am positive on most everything that we do, and I think that being positive helps a lot. And that’s because of our employees. We have great employees here and they all pick up the slack whenever they’re asked.” Gonzales also added that he hopes to have a new village manager soon, after the recent exit of Manager Sarah Austin.
Announcements
The next Board of Trustees Workshop will be held July 7 at 5:30 p.m. The village Planning and Zoning meeting is scheduled for July 8 at 4:30 p.m. The next Board of Trustees Regular Meeting July 15 at 5:30 p.m.